The Promise
by Jasper's Second Choice
Summary: B'Elanna invited Tom to her quarters after "Revulsion"-what happened on that first night? Very short. Rating for strongly implied sex but nothing graphic.


Author's Note: This is set immediately after the season 4 episode "Revulsion", which is set three days after "Day of Honour". At the end of the episode, B'Elanna is in sickbay having been treated by the doctor and they have a short conversation, two lines of which were the basis for this story.

HUGE thanks to DianeB for all the help with this…she turned a nearly unreadable story into something I'm happy to post.

Disclaimer: Paramount owns it, I just play with it.

***

"_Does this mean you're too tired to meet later? In my quarters?"  
"Are you sure your heart can take it?"_

Tom Paris grinned as he walked through the corridors of Voyager, remembering his earlier conversation with B'Elanna Torres. Flexing his fists as he held onto the small bouquet of mixed Bajoran wildflowers he'd replicated, he felt a slight, very uncharacteristic twinge of something that felt like both nervousness and excitement in his stomach. _Yeesh, get a hold of yourself, Paris, it's not like you've never seen a woman before,_ he thought, shaking his head slightly.

Of course, he'd never been in love before.

Oh, he'd thought he had been, many times. His first year at the Academy, he'd nearly flunked out of Stellar Cartography when Susie Crabtree dumped him. But he couldn't remember ever feeling this way about seeing Susie; couldn't remember a single day when he'd thought about her day to day activities as much as he thought about B'Elanna's. The last few months she had constantly occupied his thoughts-what she was doing, whether he'd see her in the mess hall at lunch time, or if she was on night shift and therefore sleeping at lunch, whether she'd agree to try a new holo-novel with him…it was unending.

Finally arriving at B'Elanna's quarters, Tom paused for a moment before pressing the button which would signal the familiar chime inside the room. Tugging on the hem of the blue button down shirt he'd worn for the evening-it really was nice to get out of that uniform sometimes-he waited for her answer.

And waited for her answer. It seemed to him that hours were passing while he stood outside her door. _She's changed her mind,_ he thought, _oh God, I'm such an idiot. _Only a minute or two later, however, the door slid open. He watched the smile tentatively come to her face as she greeted him, and he couldn't help but smile at her as he stepped through the door.

"Hi," he said. The flowers forgotten, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. It was only a moment before he felt her finally relax into him, her arms stretching up to lock behind his neck. Reluctantly, he broke apart from her too short a time later. Stepping back just slightly, leaving the hand not holding the flowers on her waist, he finally looked at her fully. She, too, was out of uniform, in a dark amethyst coloured dress made of some kind of smooth material which was just low cut enough to send his imagination into overdrive and had thick straps that fastened behind her neck. It fell to just above her knees, and clung to her slim figure without being tight.

He felt another twinge in the bottom of his stomach. This one was _much_ more familiar.

"You look incredible," he said, offering her the flowers without taking his eyes off her. She accepted them without looking, seeming to him to be as unwilling to take her eyes from his as he was from hers. He barely heard her activate the lock on the door, preoccupied as he was with her twisting away from him, managing to somehow continue holding his gaze. He began to pout as a familiar gleam of mischief lit up her eyes. He watched as she turned to set the flowers on the small end table beside the couch and then turn back towards him as she sat down.

"You gonna join me, flyboy, or are you just going to keep standing there?" she asked him. It sounded like a challenge or an invitation, or perhaps both. Whatever the truth, he certainly wasn't going to turn it down. A smirk crossed his face as he quickly crossed the room and tackled her into a reclining position against the back of the couch, pressing his mouth hard to hers. He felt her hands press into his shoulders, and before he knew what she was doing she had rolled him in one smooth movement until he was flat on his back along the length of the couch. She let out a low growl, and his body responded instantly.

"God, B'Elanna," he groaned. She just grinned ferally at him in response. Restraint went out the airlock as he reached up behind her neck, pulled open the straps of her dress, and yanked the top down.

***

An hour later, they were on the floor, collapsed together in an entanglement of arms and legs, the flowers he'd brought scattered around them. Tom ran his fingers idly up and down B'Elanna's bare arm, his eyes half-closed as he looked down at her.

"I'm going to feel this tomorrow," he said, closing his eyes fully but smiling.

"Should we get the doctor to fix you up?" she asked lightly, a very slight teasing note to her voice.

"Not a chance," Tom said gently, opening his eyes and twisting so that he was looking down at her, resting his weight on his forearm. "I want these scars." He saw her dark eyes quiver slightly as a few tears sprung forward, one or two sliding down her cheek from the corner of her eye. He wiped them away with a light brush of his thumb, but said nothing more. He simply pressed his lips to hers once more, saying more in that one kiss than any words could have ever said.

_I belong to you. I love you. _


End file.
